Griz to face Bengals in Big Sky Semifinal

The Montana men's tennis team begins its quest to repeat as Big Sky Tournament Champions on Friday as the Griz head to Phoenix looking to win a second straight title and advance to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons.

Montana will take the No. 2 seed into the semifinal after earning a first-round bye with a 13-7 overall record and a 6-1 record in conference play this season. For the third time this year they will face Idaho State on Friday, April 24, at 9 a.m. (MT), who earned the No. 3 seed at 11-9 overall and 4-3 in league play. The Bengals advanced to the semifinal after sweeping Sacramento State in the quarterfinal 4-0.

"We've had a great week of preparation. We've also spoken about how we have the only guys in the entire tournament who have won this thing. There are no other returners on any other team who have won the Big Sky tournament in Phoenix. So, that's a huge advantage for the Griz, and we're going to use that to move forward," said head coach Jason Brown.

"I think we're fully prepared. We know what to expect from Idaho State, we know we are going to face some adversity, and we know what we have to do to handle it."

The Big Sky Championship Tournament is held at the Phoenix Tennis Center, with each match starting at 9 a.m. (MT), 8 a.m. local time. Entry to the Phoenix Tennis Center is free of charge and open to the public.

The championship round of the tournament is set for Saturday, April 25.

COVERAGE: Links to live scoring of all matches at the tournament can be found on the team's schedule page at GoGriz.com/MTEN. Links to the tournament program and the tournament central guide can also be found on the team's schedule page. Follow the team on social media for tournament updates and reaction as well @MontanaGrizMTEN.

THE BRACKET: Montana enters the Big Sky tourney as the No. 2 overall seed and received a first-round bye. They will take on the No. 3 seed Bengals - the highest seeded team remaining in the bracket following the first round after taking down Sacramento State 4-0.

Across the bracket from the Griz are the No. 1 seed Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, who went 7-0 in conference play and 16-5 overall this season. They take on the lowest seeded team remaining in the tourney in No. 4 Montana State, which beat Idaho 4-2 on Thursday.

A win for both UM and NAU in the semifinal would set up a replay of last year's title match in Phoenix. NAU holds the head-to-head advantage over the Griz this season, having beaten UM in Missoula in a 4-3 thriller.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE BENGALS: The Griz stormed back from a doubles loss and won the top four singles matches in straight sets to clinch a 5-2 Big Sky dual over ISU in Missoula just two weeks ago on Aug. 10.

UM overcame a slow start and a 0-1 deficit in the opening round to dominate the first four matches in singles, sweeping each of the top four courts in two sets apiece to secure the win at 4-1, before splitting the final two courts to make it a 5-2 final.

The win was sweet revenge for Montana, who dropped a nonconference, neutral site dual to Idaho State at Boise State's spring tournament on March 3, where the Griz won the doubles and on court one singles, but dropped four singles matches at the bottom of the order to fall 4-2.

LAST TIME AT THE TOURNEY: At the 2025 championship tourney, the Grizzlies won three-straight matches to win a title, playing as the No. 3 seed in Phoenix. UM knocked-of Sacramento State and Idaho State in the first two round to advance to the tile match.

Montana rallied after a loss in doubles to win four singles matches as the 3-seed Grizzlies upset the No. 1-seed and regular season champion Lumberjacks 4-2 in come-from-behind fashion to win the title.

Duncan McCall and Moritz Lesjak helped Montana wrestle momentum away from NAU with a pair of singles wins soon after the doubles round, but it was Baltazar Wiger-Nordas winning on line two in straight sets with UM down 0-2 to start Montana's comeback. Tom Bittner then rebounded from a first set loss in a tiebreaker to beat Big Sky MVP Dani Torres in a three-set thriller to clinch the championship. Bittner was named the tournament MVP after clinching the team victory for the Griz.

ALL-CONFERENCE HAUL: Montana cleaned up in this year's Big Sky Conference year end awards. Jason Brown was the back-to-back winner of the league's Coach of the Year award after winning in 2025. Bittner was also named the conference's regular season MVP.

Overall, four of the six Grizzlies in the regular singles rotation and all three doubles pairings earned an all-conference nod.

Montana's 2026 Big Sky Men's Tennis Award Winners
MVP: Tom Bittner, Montana
Coach of the Year: Jason Brown, Montana

All-Big Sky Singles First Team
Tom Bittner *
Duncan McCall *
* - unanimous first-team selection

All-Big Sky Singles Second Team
Matt Upton
Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

All-Big Sky Doubles First Team
Duncan McCall/Baltazar Wiger-Nordas *
* - unanimous first-team selection

All-Big Sky Doubles Second Team
Johnny Wilkinson/Matt Upton

All-Big Sky Doubles Honorable Mention
Tom Bittner/Eivind Tandberg

LAST TIME OUT: Montana enters the Big Sky tourney on a roll as winners of nine of its last 10 duals. Perhaps even more of a momentum boost is the rivalry win the Griz capped the regular season with, rolling over Montana State 5-2 in Bozeman on April 18.

The Griz breezed past the Cats in doubles and Matt Upton built on the UM lead with a straight-set win on court four in singles. The Cats fought back, however, winning the second set on the three other courts in play to put the dual up for grabs.

Bittner shifted the momentum back to the Montana bench, however, dominating his third set 6-0, and McCall played the clincher with a strong third as well to claim UM's fourth win and seal the victory.

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Players Mentioned

Tom Bittner

Moritz Lesjak

Duncan McCall

Eivind Tandberg

Matt Upton

Baltazar Wiger-Nordas

Johnny Wilkinson

University of Montana Athletics